The Fresh Loaf

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Chavi's blog

Chavi's picture
Chavi

All out of whole wheat flour, I searched my bread library for a recipe that at least incorporated grains for this week's loaf. I settled on Reinhart's Yeasted Multigrain from Crust and Crumb- a recipe I happened to have had my eye on for awhile.

So.. today before I went to class, I assembled the biga and came back to find that it had risen really well. The intense Israeli summer heat does wonders for rising bread dough! I put together the dough as called for using 1.5 ounces each of oats and cornmeal as I was out of bran and 2.5 ounces honey instead of the brown sugar. Due to the weather (I assume), I needed to add more flour for the dough to cohere. The first rise was pretty quick and I subsequently shaped it into a pan loaf for its proof which also went faster than the suggested time. I baked it until a thermometer hit the recommended time.. The resulting bread had a really nice oven spring and developed a nice brown color. After it cooled, I cut a slice and tasted to find a really satisfyingly crunchy crust and creamy looking interior. The crumb was nice.. as for the flavor.. I found it to be pretty mild but with a pleasant honey undertone.. I think this time I should have added all the salt but overall it was really good. Looking forward to having it for breakfast tomorrow morning!

Chavi's picture
Chavi

One of my more recent acquisitions to my bread library is Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads. I try to bake bread at least once a week, but as a college student, that isn't always feasible- especially with our tiny ovens. So to inaugurate the book I decided to make a sandwich loaf (hearth baking is nearly impossible in these ovens) and because Im trying to stick to whole grains as much as I can (yes, I sometimes resort to white breads!) the first whole wheat bread in the section it was!

The night before I made the soaker using 1 percent milk (Im baking in Israel, not sure exactly what the American equivalent is). Once that was finished I made the biga- the texture of the dough was exactly right. The next morning my biga had doubled, even tripled beautifully. I put together the dough, which was alittle difficut to assemble- incorporating liquids and solid dough isnt easy. I let the dough rise and then baked in a sandwich shape in a loaf pan (after another rising!) without steam. The bread had beautiful oven spring and developed a beautiful brown color and the most intoxicating bread smell ever.

The bread had beautiful color, crumb, oven spring, and texture...........but I thought it was too salty. I measure everything by weight, including the salt. Either the salt here is different, or I didnt mix it in well enough. Oh well, my sister and brother in law didnt detect the salt and spread with jam it was barely detectable to me.

Overall, good experience.. will try again...maybe try another recipe... Bottom line... I think Im going to like this book...

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